Do pools need drains?-A study on the subject

Study concludes no, but I'm not sure it addresses all issues.

http://www.manufacturingcenter.com/d...feature_2.asp?

Interesting, but keep in mind it was done in a lab. In the real world I would think the drain helps as pools are not designed nor built to perfection. Also four water inlets is more than most pools. The other issue that is not discussed is heat transfer. Having the drain at the bottom helps to ciriculate the cold water up to the heater and more evenly heat the pool.

As far as a control system to shut the pump off that would be very easy to do and very cheap these days.

It seems we like to blame others for everything these days and take no responsibility for our actions or those of our kids. I remember when I was little that my parents told me to be careful of the drain in a swimming pool. Sometimes accidents just happen, but it seems like most people believe that is not true and that someone should pay anytime something bad happens. I was glad to hear that was not the case in this report.

There are apparently some builders who have been building main-drainless pools for a while.
http://www.allbusiness.com/periodica.../517444-1.html

I don't know.... The Florida code is: 2 main drains per pump. Meaning you can't just have one. 2 MD 3' apart on or different planes for anti-entrapment. I'm not sure it says anything about not having any main drains. I'll have to check. And I don't know why anyone would want to fight it anyway.

BTW similar accidents happen with vacuum cleaning lines if a spring loaded cover is not installed.

We installed a 13 x 30 fiberglass pool on a do-it-yourself basis in '05. We decided not to install a main drain since the pool will never be drained anyway. We didn't want to worry about it leaking or entrapment.
As far as circulation goes, there are 2 inlets in the shallow end and 1 in the deep end which keep things pretty well stirred up. It needs vacuumming 3 or 4 times a week, which is about par, I suppose. 1 skimmer in the deep end is all that feeds the pump. There is a sump line under the pool to pump out ground water if it should need to be drained, a submersible pump could empty the pool fairly quickly.
Hindsight being 20/20, I wonder if I should have some sort of vacuum breaker in case the vacuum hose gets blocked?

Cool! That's a really nice, peaceful setting for your pool.

Michael

How likely is entrapment with modern drains?

I have two wall drains plumbed to my main drain to prevent such a thing. (even in the spa) You'll need help or really work at it to get entrapped!

Robert

I can't say it's not possible because anything you can think of is, but you would have to work pretty hard at it to get intrapped. The antivortex covers are screwed down so that a screwdriver is needed to remove them and are solid on top so the water flows in from the sides only. Pretty difficult to cover that.... Now you have two of those 3' apart. So it would either take a 4' wide person, or someone would have to lay accross both of them to try and cover the openings on the perimeters of the drain..... or..... it would take two people to do so at the same time.

Oh... now some states are requiring a vent line attached to the suction line in addition to the two MDs in the event the almost impossible scenario I described above happens.

Any thoughts or comments on this??